Lucas Camilo

Though we triumphantly reported on the completion of Lucas’s new wheelchair ramp last month, in fact there were still a few things left to finish. A railing was added on the right side at the top of the front yard, and more importantly, we installed a modular ramp on side of the house that replaces the rotting wooden ramp in the back yard (which amazingly lasted almost 4 years despite being built by a neighbor to last 6 months.)

Meanwhile, I was invited to do a family share at Ida’s preschool yesterday for International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and so we put together a video about wheelchair ramps, disability… and Lucas being silly! (I bet you can guess who chose the punk rock soundtrack.) The video also shows the complete trip that Lucas now travels to get from the house to the sidewalk, a remarkable improvement on the rotting-wood-ramp to overly-steep-driveway combo that he formerly used.

Look out for invites to a ramp warming party in early January!

Back in early September, neighbors would stroll by our house and stare puzzled and the big, dirt hole in our front yard. Was there a sewage leak that needed fixing, they wondered, or a buried treasure we were trying to uncover?

In fact we were building a front yard ramp, but the progress on the project seemed painfully slow. Indeed building a giant, wheelchair-accessible ramp into the side of a hill — and landscaping it in a way that makes it actually look good — is not an easy (or cheap) proposition. Still, I optimistically predicted back then that Lucas would be able to travel up the ramp under construction by Halloween.

After getting off the school bus last Monday, he finally took his first trip up the ramp… 2 days before Halloween. It was triumphant all of us but Lucas especially, as he had been asking daily for weeks, “is the ramp done yet?” So when we got to the top that first time I asked him what he thought and he said “My ramp IS done and it is awesome!”

The patio at the top is another great addition, as it will allow the whole family (including Lucas) to sit in the afternoon sun on nice days. And there’s also a big planter box where we can plant our vegetables.   The guys who built it did a fabulous job and it genuinely made them happy to get to know Lucas and know that they were helping a kid in a wheelchair get safely into his house.

Check out some videos of the first trip up, and a subsequent trip down a few days later (with some of Lucas’s favorite classic rock songs in the background for effect.)

If you haven’t heard, Lucas is pretty in to classic rock these days. So its no surprise that he decided we should all dress up as his favorite band — The Who — for Halloween.

Of course he was Pete Townshend, the legendary guitarist; I was honored to be Keith Moon, one of my favorite drummers of all time; and Krista jumped wholeheartedly into the role of Roger Daltrey, the great singer who executed what is supposedly the loudest scream ever recorded. Ida wasn’t too excited about being the bassist and chose instead to be the band manager, which involved (among other things) walking around with a clipboard saying “do you want to book a gig?”

We cruised the neighborhood last night with a bluetooth speaker, mostly blasting Lucas’s two favorites (Baba O’Riley and Won’t Get Fooled Again) on repeat. Occasionally we would slow it down and do Behind Blue Eyes which was a bit of a tearjerker. More pictures and video are below, including the aforementioned Daltrey scream, as well as Lucas doing the iconic Townshend “windmill” guitar move.

After a few months of construction, we’re closing in on having a beautiful new front yard ramp for Lucas!

It’s been a long time in coming. Since we moved into our house a few years ago we’ve had to maneuver the steep driveway every time we leave the house with Lucas, which is especially treacherous in the wet and cold fall and winter months, and has gotten more difficult as he gets bigger and heavier. Initially we had hoped to flatten out the driveway — a relatively easy and cheap project. But that idea was nixed by our neighbor (its a shared driveway) so we moved on to plan B.

It took a while to find an architect to help design the ramp, and given the construction boom in Seattle right now, it was equally difficult to find a landscape contractor willing to take on the job. Even then, we had to get all the required permits and wait until until the contractor had a space in his schedule to fit us in.

Finally, in August the project began. It’s been fascinating to watch our front yard transform into a landscaped path. There have been some challenges along the way — as I imagine there usually are when you do work on your house.  But for the most part we feel extremely lucky to have the resources (shout out to my parents for the financial support!) to make this project happen so that Lucas has a safe way to enter our house.

And speaking of Lucas… he’s been watching the construction take place, asking nearly every day as he heads off to school, “how’s the ramp going?” and, “when is it going to be done?!?” Patience is not something that Lucas is known for, but it’s fun to see how excited he is about having a new route into the house.

Perhaps most exciting was the long anticipated concrete pour. As Ida exclaimed that morning a few weeks ago when the truck pulled in, “It’s the big day!” For weeks the workers had been preparing the forms for the concrete walls so it was a significant step in the process to watch it all go down. There were extra workers on hand that day and they paused to get a photo with Lucas as he headed off to school (see below). We won’t miss having a major construction site in the front of our house but we will miss Juan and Miguel, the amazing guys who have done every aspect of the job from day 1.

Next week they put down the pavers that will make up the path for the ramp and along the side of the house. Oh yeah, and there’s still an addition ramp that needs to be constructed along the side of the house, though it will be a much easier to install aluminum portable ramp. At any rate, we’ll post more pictures when its all done, and are also planning a ramp-warming party, including various friends who use wheelchairs who can help christen the path.

Here’s Lucas’s wrap up of the last day of our trip and the time we spent at the Lake Quinault Lodge.

Tuesday

Our road trip is over. It feels good to be back home after that long haven’t told you much about the lodge so let me fill you in. One night Mom & I read Ida her book. Well it was it was a song book so we sang it. Grandma & Gari were there too. At the main lodge we saw a person named Alisen who was more active than the rest of the family. We also watched a Led Zeplin concert movie called Song Remains the Same witch isn’t as famous as I thought. Anyway, yesterday Mom, Grandma & Gari went kayaking while Dad & I did Mad Libs.

Its finally a beautiful, sunny day at Lake Quinault but its also time to head back to Seattle. The last two days have been cold and rainy so we spent a lot of time playing games and doing Madlibs by the fire in the lodge. But we did get out for one amazing, wheelchair accessible hike (as Lucas discusses below) and a swim in the lake.

Sunday

Well we’re in a lodge now & tomorrow we’re going back home. We just went on a cool hike in the rainforest. We saw lots of moss hanging down from the trees. It was the coolest hike ever. Yesterday we went in the main lodge, & there was a piano that I could play.

Due to lack of internet connection (which Lucas bemoaned as much as anyone) we haven’t been able to blog about our road trip for the last 5 days. And now we’re in the home stretch! As Lucas says, when things go by fast it must be because you’re having fun and indeed it’s been a blast. In particular, we’ve loved not having to drive very much (as we did on our previous RV trips) and instead have gotten to explore certain places — first Victoria (see Lucas’s post on that experience below), then Sol Duc hot springs, and now Lake Quinault.

At Sol Duc we met up with my parents and also had a visit from one of Lucas’s nurses who was staying nearby in Port Angeles. Lucas was really excited about staying in a cabin in the middle of the woods. We also got to go for some great hikes – both without Lucas (which he was totally fine with) and then some shorter, accessible walks the next day with Lucas. We also spent lots of time in the sulfur-rich hot spring pools.

At Sol Duc we were lucky that the smoke finally cleared, leading to some beautiful weather. But yesterday the clouds moved in and its been raining ever since. More on the final stage of our trip later… for now here a few Lucas blog posts that he managed to write despite not being much in the blogging mood on this trip, followed by some pictures.

Tuesday.

We just went to Fishermen’s Warf & I brought one of my blue square magnets along. Ida & I kept getting pretend texts from the other magnets that said that they really missed the blue square & that they needed it for the flower. Then we went to an incectairium that had a butterfly farm & this might sound totally crazy but to get to the butterfly farm is to follow this trail of butterflies on the ceiling.

Thursday

Well we’re out of our hotel & in a cabin. Last night I heard something coming from outside & this morning I figured out what it was. It turns out some people from another cabin were shrieking for some reason.

Friday

Well our road trip is coming to an end. We’re still in our cabin, but it’s the last night.

My Sol duc highlights so far have been:

1. Having Alisha along for a day
2. Going on 2 hikes in one day with Nonna and Papa
3. Going to Hurricane Ridge
4. Being in a cabin.